Methodist Conferencing

A few weeks ago the parking lot at church was so full when I pulled in just before 11:00 AM that I wondered what special thing was happening in worship.  As it turned out, it was a Children's Sunday which is always good for attendance.  Today I arrived at the same time and there were so many empty parking spots, I wondered again what was happening.  As it turned out, it was a Charge Conference which is an annual administrative meeting dressed up in missional clothing.  Experience has taught me a lot of people do not share the Bishop's enthusiasm for Charge Conference.    

Back in the day when I was growing into being a Methodist, it was common for the church to have four of those administrative meetings per year instead of one.  It was then called Quarterly Conference.  They were not particularly exciting to a teenage boy, but since I was the preacher's kid, I got a special ticket for attendance from my parents.  I must have attended a hundred, or more, of those things, but there is only one I remember.  It took place at the Alamo Methodist Church in May of 1966.  The District Superintendent who always came and presided over the Quarterly Conference was the Rev. Joe Bridges.  In his meditation he said, "If you see a need around you and realize you can do something about that need and do nothing, you may be neglecting the call of God on your life."   

I carried his word to the parsonage that night, knelt by my bed, and in a moment which has counted for the rest of my life, I gave my life to Jesus and heard His call to preach.  Like Jonah, it took a while before I accepted what I knew God wanted me to do.  The word I carried home that night changed my life.  Who would have thought it could happen at a Quarterly Conference?  The moral to this little story is that God is going to do whatever He wants to do whenever He wants to do it and He wants our story to be a part of the Kingdom story.